U21 World Cup: Results of day one

Today the World Cup for players under the age of 21 has started in Taiwan. To be honest I don’t know how strong each team is. One of the games that I could predict a winner was the game between Italy and New Zealand. The Italians beat the Kiwis 7-2.

After two innings, Nicaragua had a 12-0 lead against Venezuela. Venezuela got back in the game in the following innings and scored a total of five runs. But eventually Nicaragua scored six more runs for the 18-5 win. It took them the full nine innings to reach this score though.

After Japan took a 5-0 lead in the first inning vs Australia, the Aussies fought back and took a 7-5 lead in the fifth. Japan cut the lead in half in the sixth inning. Eventually Japan scored three runs in the ninth, which was too much to overcome for the Australians. Final score 9-7 Japan. Notable fact: Japanese relief pitcher Yuya Yokoyama pitched three innings and struck out eight batters.

Another game of which I could predict the winner was the game between the Czech Republic and South Korea.
The Czechs were never really a match for the Koreans. Final score 15-5 Korea.

Taiwan needed just six innings to beat Mexico 15-0. Eight runs in the first inning, four in the second, one in the fifth and two in the sixth were too much to overcome for the Mexicans.

The Netherlands just arrived today, they will take on Australia tomorrow.